Colleges: Paul Phillips, Mike Burlas still friends, coaches after all these years

Wednesday

Feb 20, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Jennifer Toland Colleges

Paul Phillips and Mike “Gramps” Burlas were roommates at Assumption College, the best man in each other’s wedding. Phillips is godfather to one of Burlas’ children, Burlas to one of Phillips’ kids. Phillips needles Burlas, and Burlas gives it back. They have shared many good times and many good laughs.

But back in the early 1990s, when Phillips invited Burlas to join his men’s basketball staff at Anna Maria, their friends weren’t sure it was such a good idea.

“They were like, ‘Oh my God — you two working together?’ ” Burlas, the much more — shall we say — “reserved” member of the duo, recalled this week. “ ‘How long do you think this is going to last?’ ”

Twenty-one years later — six at Anna Maria and 15 at Clark — their coaching partnership is going strong, and their friendship, more like a brotherhood, which has spanned more than 40 years, is more solid than ever.

“As much as we joke about it,” Burlas said, “I really do enjoy working with Paul. It’s been an unbelievable experience.”

Clark’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have the three longest-serving assistant coaches in the area. Alongside Burlas, Tyrone Hicks, a former four-year (1982-86) Clark standout, has been on the Cougars’ bench for 25 straight seasons.

Marge O’Brien, arguably the best player in Clark women’s history, is in her 22nd year on Pat Glispin’s staff and this season was elevated to associate head coach.

“In recruiting speeches to parents, I talk about the years Coach Burlas has been here and Coach Hicks’ longevity, and that’s got to say something about the family atmosphere we have here and how dedicated these guys are,” Phillips said. “I’m not sure if 18-year-old kids can completely comprehend that, but I think the parents look at that and say, ‘Wow! That’s really something for those guys to stay together all those years.’ ”

Clark’s teams open play in the NEWMAC Tournament tonight. The No. 4-seeded men host No. 5 Babson at Kneller Athletic Center at 7. The No. 6 women play at No. 3 Wellesley, also at 7.

Both Clark programs have enjoyed their share of winning over the last couple of decades. Since 1996, the men have made five trips to the NCAA Tournament, with back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2001 and ’02. The women have made it to the NCAA tourney seven times since 1986 and advanced to the Elite Eight in 1989.

While Phillips and Glispin have been the driving forces behind Clark’s success, their longtime assistants have played vital roles in their programs’ accomplishments as well.

“Marge is the heart and soul of this program,” said Glispin, who is in her 29th season at Clark and closing in on 500 career wins. “Everything we’ve achieved in this program has been a direct result of her efforts. I’m the luckiest head coach in the world to have her at my side.”

Hicks has served under four head coaches at Clark — Kevin Clark, Larry Mangino, Phillips (1996-2004), Mo Cassara, and Phillips again (2006-present). Clark, an assistant under Wally Halas when Hicks played for the Cougars, mentored Hicks and gave him his start in coaching.

Hicks has been around Clark for almost 30 years. Why? The answer is simple.

“Clark University,” Hicks said. “What Clark has done for me, what it’s helped me to achieve. I feel like I have to give back.”

Hicks’ primary responsibilities include working with Clark’s post players and assisting in scouting and recruiting. He also has been known to “take Phillips for a walk” when Phillips gets heated with officials during games. Burlas, likewise, is a calming presence.

“Gramps is a pretty laid-back guy,” Phillips said. “Tyrone is a really laid-back guy. The great thing is they’re the absolute opposite of me. It’s perfect. I’m wound up enough for all three of us.”

Glispin and O’Brien have more similar personalities and also have worked to achieve a balance on the bench and with players through the years.

“I know what she thinks and how we want to see things happen,” O’Brien said. “At this point, we are very much on the same page, so I know what she wants and I can help her to get the message across. When maybe she has to come at it more authoritatively and high level, as an assistant I can soften it a little bit. We kind of do it naturally.”

O’Brien, who played for Barbara Stevens at Clark (Glispin was an assistant on the staff in O’Brien’s senior year), is the only player in school history with more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. She coached for three years at Anna Maria — a year and a half as an assistant and a year and a half as the head coach — but decided she did not want to pursue a career as a head coach.

Glispin took over at Clark in 1986 and asked O’Brien to join her staff.

“I just thought it was so cool,” O’Brien said. “I feel so fortunate to work with Coach Glispin and to stay involved with basketball. It’s just a great opportunity.”

Burlas, Hicks and O’Brien all give full-time effort, expertise and enthusiasm to the Cougars, though their positions at Clark are part-time.

Burlas is operations manager at Keltec Associates in Westboro, Hicks works for Verizon, and O’Brien is employed at the Hanover Insurance Group.

“What I try to explain to our kids is you don’t know how lucky you are to have these coaches,” Phillips said. “They’re so much a part of it. They coach because they love it.”

Speaking of Stevens, her undefeated Bentley College women’s basketball team is No. 1 in this week’s USA Today Division 2 Top 25 poll.

The Falcons (23-0) are one of two remaining unbeatens in Division 2. Bentley had been ranked No. 2 since the preseason.

This marks the second time in Stevens’ storied career that Bentley has topped the poll. The team achieved its first No. 1 ranking last season and maintained it for three weeks.

Bentley beat Southern New Hampshire last Saturday to clinch at least a tie for its 21st Northeast-10 Conference regular-season title. The win was the 875th of Stevens’ career. Junior forward Jacqui Brugliera of Fitchburg scored her 1,000th career point in the game.

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